Half-Blood Prince Tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Will be enjoying the services of complimentary baby sitters ( aka Sudha & SSV ) and watching it tomorrow night.

Duathlon

This Sunday, I participated in a Duathlon in Bangalore, apparently the 1st ever Duathlon in the country. The aim was to complete 10 KM running and 20 KM cycling (5km run-20km cycle-5km run). About 150 folks participated in this. It was really tough as I had done zero preparation, but very enjoyable.

Poonam and Amma had also come along and had a good time. It wsa outside the city, early morning....the weather and ambience was perfect for the race. I took 2 hrs and 9 minutes to complete. Some photos below.

The best part is watching the number of 'hep' people who turn up for such 'glamor' sports. The expensive equipment and the attitude are usually a total overkill for a small race like this: if you go by the dresses and cycles, it is almost as if the star atheletes of the Tour De France have descended on this event! Overall, it is hilarious to watch these 'dudes'. To take a leaf out of the Mastercard ads:

Bianchi road bike: 35,000 Rs

Premium helmet: 1500 Rs

Premium cycling gloves: 1000 Rs

Bianchi cycling vest: 3000 Rs

Premium Nike running shoes: 6000 Rs

Padded cycling shorts: 3000 Rs

The hilarity of watching people with all this gear finishing at the back of the race: Priceless!

Joking apart, there were a lot of people with very good stamina. There was a 70 year old man and a 8 year boy who completed the race...amazing!

Photos: http://picasaweb.google.co.in/poonamt/Duathlon2009

Video:

Pass available to hear Warren Buffett speak

Vidya / Madhav,
I have a single student pass that gives access to the Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting in Omaha. Considering the fact that the Class A-share(BRKA) costs about $88,000+ and the Class B-share (BRKB) costs about $3,000, this is a rare free opportunity to attend the meeting and hear Mr.Buffett speak. The meeting is on May 2nd, Saturday. Let me know if you want the pass and I can fed-ex it over ASAP.
After hearing him speak in November, I can tell you it is an absolutely amazing experience. You can read my blog entry about my experience here.

http://krupasingampalli.blogspot.com/2008/12/day-with-warren-buffett.html

Oracle to buy SUN

Talk about culture differences.
Look for big layoffs at Sun.

Remiss of me

I apologize for not extending the authorship to Madhu and Madhav. Sasanna and Vidya, email me their email addresses ASAP so they can be properly welcomed into the bosom of the family on the web.

A Facelift

I am trying a few things to give the blog a face lift that allows me to more effectively organize the information.

A poll on the blog access

In the spirit of the Indian elections and after listening to feedback from a few participants, I have added a poll on whether to keep the blog private. You have one week to vote. Based on the results, only authorized users can read the blog, or we will keep it open.

April Calendar

I just noticed today that the Singampalli calendar for April was woefully empty. Kudos to Vidya on putting the event on calendar that will give people another chance for subhakankshalu.

Update on my job situation

While I did not lose my job as I anticipated last week, I am now working part-time. 50% work and 50% pay.
For me, it is a blessing in disguise, as this would give me time to focus on the all important interviews that will start in September.
Rogi pale koradu, vaidyudu pale ichadu.

Some Healthy Competition

TO spur some healthy competition among the fellow bloggers, I have added two widgets to the blog. One lists the number of comments each person made, while another lists the blog posts by a label. I have pre-created some tags but I have not yet applied them to all the posts. In a few days, I expect the labeling to be complete.

A request to future authors. Please add appropriate labels to your posts. You can see them at the bottom of the post, where there is a place to enter "
Labels for this post" . You can click on the "Show all" to see all existing tags. You can enter new tags by directly typing the tag into the box.

I am still trying to get the widget that will show authors but no luck so far.

Let us see the numbers!!!!!!!

Mera Bharat--

OUR Achievement.First picture from Chandrayaan--1 recorded at Byalalu.
Image: The northern coast of Australia from a height of 9,000 km.
Photographs: ISRO

Announcing Singampalli Family Google Group

I have created a Google group that would allow threaded discussions, but more importantly allow docs to be uploaded. All blog authors have been added as members by default. You need to login to view the files.

Here is the link - http://groups.google.com/group/singampalli

The same link will be permanently available on the top-right corner of the blog.

The blog is still the entry point for all news. The group is mainly to share documents.

As the first one, I have posted the "Profile of Man in Black" in pdf format for your reading pleasure.

Oh where, Oh where have the posters gone, oh where oh where are they?

To be sung to the tune of "Oh where Oh where has the little dog gone? Oh where Oh where is he? With his ears cut short and his tail cut long, oh where oh where is he?" Kids could be so cruel. I never understood the three blind mice rhyme( They all ran after the farmer's wife, who cut of their tails with a carving knife, did you ever see such a sorry sight?)

I challenge someone to decipher the barrage of initials.
PS,SVS,SSV, GS, SS,SVM, SLKM, SLL, SPM,SDS,SSK,SGK,SRN,SVN,SLN,SGR where is everyone? And I apologize if I miss anyone, and it further reaffirms that they need to be more active.
SLK and SVK are the only posters lately!!!!!!!!!!